Raga Shree: Stephen Slawek, sitar & Ishwar Lal Misra, tabla

This is from a performance in April of 1995. Ishwar Lal (known to his friends as Lalu) and I had become friends during his residency at the University of Pennsylvania in 1970/71. He was actually my first tabla teacher. He accompanied me several times during my years in Varanasi. I arranged for him to spend a semester at the University of Texas at Austin in the Spring of 1995. During that residency we performed several times. He also accompanied sitarist Shujaat Khan and none other than the emperor of sarod, Ali Akbar Khan. He had accompanied the top ranked artists of India (including Ravi Shankar, Nikhil Banerjee, and Bhimsen Joshi) and is known for his supportive style of enhancing the soloist's efforts in elaborating a raga.

[@CBerryman57]

After more than 50 years of listening to Hindustani classical music I can appreciate the skill and knowledge of many musicians. But nowadays I rarely enjoy renditions of raga as I used to. I enjoyed this performance. Thank you.

[@Surbahar1984]

One of the best music I, have came across in You Tube...

[@sudeeptasharma9389]

I rarely come across to such a traditional way of Sitar Performance these days and remember my days at Music Deptt Banaras Hindu University Varanasi India when Pt Ishwarlalji sir accompanied us in the classroom as well as at concerts at BHU Really that was a blissful period having Great Teachers Accompanists and Artists occasionally visiting the faculty
My Congratulations and Regards to my GuruBhai Dr Slawek 🎉🙏

[@ravindraskulkarni]

Excellent performance

[@chrisdoddridge4678]

Absolutely marvelous & beautiful.

[@world_musician]

Favorite Raga! Marvelous performance

[@sudeeptasharma9389]

Very soothing Alap 💐🙏

[@madhusudan84mech]

❤ superb 👌👏

[@willyschwarz1730]

Exquisitely performed Shri Raag, Steven! Do you have any idea why some raags are often associated with a particular taal? Shri and Abhogi in particular seem most often sung and played in Jhaptaal.

[@sslawek]

I think it might be D.V. Paluskar's famous LP recording of Shree in jhaptal that has led to several performances of that raga in jhaptal. However, I know gats in tin-tala for Shree and Abhogi, and gats in jhaptal and rupak for Abhogi.